Short, amusing, and laugh-aloud funny, literary critic Terry Eagleton observes Americans from the right-side of the Atlantic . . .

. . . Except, perhaps Great Britain is not the right side. Eagleton’s arrows sling both ways, and are less of an attack than family banter.

“The natural American tendency is to say yes to things, whereas the natural British tendency is to be cautious.” (67)

Over seven chapters, Eagleton considers the differences between American and British language, culture, politics, manners, national psyche, sense of identity, attitude to religion, and history.

“The British rather enjoy feeling helpless, as the Americans do not. The thought that there is absolutely nothing one can do is regarded by some in the United States as defeatist, nihilistic and in some obscure sense unpatriotic. In Britain, it brings with it a strange, luminous, semi-mystical kind of peace.” (130)

A fun, perceptive guide to the other side.

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